Conference committee files 'agree to disagree' after debate over folding SB 237 into HB 2062

Conferees on the Committee on Judiciary left a conference meeting without resolving whether to merge the contents of Senate Bill 237 into House Bill 2062, agreeing instead to prepare a short "agree to disagree" report for the Senate to run in the House.

The matter centers on competing drafts of HB 2062 and an offer from the Senate to add the House-amended contents of SB 237 into HB 2062 while retaining the House amendments to HB 2062. The proposed combination would insert tax-related language into the child-support bill; several conferees raised legal and implementation concerns about that approach.

Madam Chair summarized the Senate position as a counteroffer to «add the contents of Senate Bill 237 as it was amended by the House into HB 2062, and to keep the amendments that the House put into HB 2062.» The reviser confirmed there were no newly introduced bills, only reorganizations, editing and added conferees.

Representative Osmond, a House conferee, said the package raised serious practical problems and urged caution. "There's from top to bottom, it is a mess and unenforceable," Osmond said, citing potential ambiguity in who would claim tax exemptions in adoption, surrogacy and miscarriage situations and saying the bill could create unintended legal exposure for grieving parents.

Senator Porson, a Senate conferee, said the conference amendment had not been vetted. "I think this amendment is basically unvetted and ill conceived," Porson said, adding that the group had moved away from the bill's original child-support focus into broader tax-law determinations for which conferees lacked answers.

Conferees also discussed a technical change requested to ensure federal compliance: the reviser and others said language in SB 237 was adjusted on the House floor, at the recommendation of the Department for Children and Families, to align with federal rules about when child-support arrears and modifications may be considered. As one speaker explained, "the federal law says you may consider if they are incarcerated, or you may consider if they lose their license," language that prompted removal of a full section that had defined modification standards.

Because conferees did not reach agreement, the committee agreed to prepare and sign a short "agree to disagree" report. "So, Madam Chair, there'll be a short report, 'agree to disagree,' that you sign, and you'll run it," a conferee said; the Senate will run the report in the House and, if the House maintains its position, the conferees may reconvene. The group noted that only four conferees need to sign that agreement to transmit it.

No formal votes on the substance of either bill were taken in this meeting. The discussion ended when conferees needed to leave for scheduled floor debates and caucus obligations.

The outcome leaves the bills in a procedural limbo: HB 2062 remains in conference with the House amendments intact; the Senate has offered to fold the House-amended SB 237 into HB 2062, but conferees did not accept that merger and instead documented disagreement for each chamber to carry forward.

Looking ahead, the report will be transmitted by the Senate to the House; conferees indicated they could reconvene if the House maintained the same position after the Senate runs the report. The committee also noted scheduling constraints, including upcoming floor debates and a caucus, that forced an early adjournment of the conference session.